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Initiative on Financial Security

Initiative on Financial Security Past Events

Pamela Perun Presents 'Security Plus Annuities' at AARP "Solutions Forum"

On September 14, 2009, Pamela Perun, Policy Director of the Initiative on Financial Security, participated in an American Association of Retired People sponsored panel titled, “Poking Holes in Conventional Wisdom: A New Look at Making Financial Decisions for Retirement.” The event, part of AARP's ongoing “Solutions Forum” series, focused on several policy proposals to better assist Americans in the ‘draw-down’ phase of retirement.

Ms. Perun introduced the audience to Aspen IFS’s “simple, yet elegant” Security Plus Annuity product proposal. Designed primarily for low and moderate households, the proposal would offer retirees the opportunity to secure additional retirement income upon signing up for their Social Security benefits through the purchase of an affordable, “starter” annuity. Ms. Perun pointed out that a supplementary layer of annuitized income retirement has in the past been only a province of the rich. Yet, rising health-care costs and the diminishing rate of income replacement provided by Social Security threatens to leave much of America’s middle-class without adequate income in retirement. Security Plus would help fill that void. To read more about the Security Plus Annuity proposal, click here.

Other participants in the panel discussion included Lina Walker, Senior Policy Advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute, Anthony Webb of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, and George “Sandy” Mackenzi, Senior Policy Advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute. To read the transcipt or to watch a recorded webcast of the event, click here.

Pamela Perun Participates on AXA Equitable Thought Leadership Panel

Pamela Perun, policy director of the Initiative on Financial Security, offered her insight on the current crisis and its effect on retirement savings this past month at an event titled, "Retirement Crisis: Now What?" Hosted by AXA Equitable, the panel featured a host of thought leaders from the retirement savings community including, Peter Brady, chief economist of the Investment Company Institute, Eric Chaney, chief economist with the AXA Group, and Dallas Salisbury, CEO of the Employee Benefits Research Institute.

In her remarks, Ms. Perun was quick to point out the chronic deficiencies of America's savings culture. "People start saving too late...We need a savings system that covers people from birth to death," she cautioned. Focusing on where the money goes and how the money grows, Ms. Perun suggested that a new system of savings should be structured in light of the following five guiding principles: 1) Lifelong; 2) Universal; 3) Simple; 4) Incentivized; and 5) Widely-marketed. Ms. Perun went on to detail the lifecycle system, Savings for Life, developed by Aspen IFS after years of research with industry counsel. "If someone were to ask us what must be done to fix the savings and investment crisis - and we hope they do - here is what we would say.  It's all laid out in our report, Savings for Life."

To read additional coverage of the event click here.

Mensah Participates in NewTalk.org Conversation on Entitlements

Lisa Mensah, Executive Director of the Initiative on Financial Security, participated in a three-day virtual panel discussion held by NewTalk.org on the state of the nation’s entitlement programs.

The discussion – “Can we afford our entitlement promises? How close is the cliff?” – involved several leading policy experts in addition to Mensah, including president of the New School and former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey; David Walker, President of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former Comptroller General of the United States; and Robert Berenson of the Urban Institute.

While the conversation focused on the state of America’s entitlement promises, the topic of retirement security dominated much of the debate. Mensah argued that the unique importance of Social Security lies in its status as a universal program of insurance where everyone shares responsibility. But, Mensah added, there is a need for personal savings that would supplement, not replace, Social Security. She argued that a top priority should be to build “a first-class savings system for all Americans" and noted that the “system doesn’t always encourage people to save. Some 50% of workers aren’t even offered a retirement account.”

While proposed solutions to the entitlement situation differed greatly, each participant confirmed the need for greater public engagement in creating more solvent and efficient entitlement programs.

To read more of the discussion, click here.

Opportunities Available For Native American Child Accounts

This past June, The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI) at the University brought together a panel of leading experts to discuss the obstacles and prospects for future asset growth initiatives within Native American communities. Elena Chavez Quezada, Senior Associate at the Initiative on Financial Security, was there to explain the unique opportunity for Native American communities to implement a policy of Child Accounts. of Arizona

As more Native communities take control of their Tribal trust funds they are increasingly opting to disperse the funds amongst their members through a system of “per capita distributions.” As Chavez Quezada pointed out, Child Accounts would offer a structured financial vehicle to house the “per capita” assets until children turned 18 – and would at the same time encourage fiscal responsibility and future financial security.

To view the roundtable discussion, click here.

To read more about Child Accounts, click here.

IFS Participates in CAP Panel on "Protecting the Nest Egg"

In July, IFS Policy Director Pamela Perun participated in a panel of leading policy experts convened by The Center for American Progress to discuss the state of America’s retirement security in light of the slumping economy. Perun argued for a fundamental shift in the way Americans view savings, starting at birth and continuing throughout the lifecycle.

Perun outlined the four proposals included in Savings for Life: Child Accounts, Home Accounts, America’s IRA, and Security Plus Annuities. Stressing the importance of universality, simplicity, matching incentives, and private sector involvement, Perun underscored the importance of a comprehensive savings society, both for the financial security of individual Americans and for the overarching health of the United States economy.

To view the panel’s discussion, “Protecting the Nest Egg in the Turbulent Economy,” click here.

The Complementary Roles of Social Security and Personal Savings

With the release of the latest Social Security Trustees report on the status of the Social Security trust funds, many are again trying to pit private savings in opposition to Social Security. According to IFS Executive Director Lisa Mensah, that is off base.

At a recent forum sponsored by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), Mensah noted that while too many discussions become bogged down in an ideological debate over Social Security privatization, the real discussion should about how to make retirement more financially secure for more Americans. She argued that the answer is to build on Social Security with private retirement savings and annuities.

 Mensah discussed two IFS proposals. The first – America's IRA – would put savings within reach of the majority of working Americans who do not have access to a pension plan at work. The second – Security Plus Annuities– would offer older Americans an additional layer of lifetime, guaranteed income as a complement to Social Security.

Click here to read the congressional testimony on these two proposals by Pamela Perun, IFS Policy Director.

Aspen IFS Testifies Before Congress

On November 8, 2007, IFS Policy Director Pamela Perun testified before Congress at the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee Hearing, “Securing Retirement Coverage for Future Generations.” In her testimony, Ms. Perun described an IFS proposal, America’s IRA, to build retirement savings for workers without employer-sponsored pension plans. 

To read the testimony, please click here.

To view the hearing, please click here.

To read the testimony and also view the entire hearing, please click here.

AmericaSaves Week Press Conference

 Aspen IFS, together with two New York City agencies and a local community development credit union, organized a press conference in honor of America Saves Week, a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about saving, reducing debt, and building wealth.

At the press conference, which took place at 11:00AM on February 25th, 2008 at the Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union, the NYC Department of Homeless Services and NYC Department of Consumer Affairs discussed their specific programs to help low-income New Yorkers reach their financial goals. Aspen IFS, as a partner of America Saves, discussed its policy efforts on the national level, while Neighborhood Trust highlighted its financial education programs and affordable financial services designed to help Upper Manhattan residents achieve their long-term financial goals.

Speakers at the event included:

  • Jonathan Mintz, Commissioner, NYC Department of Consumer Affairs
  • Robert Hess, Commissioner, NYC Department of Homeless Services
  • Lisa Mensah, Executive Director, Initiative on Financial Security at The Aspen Institute
  • Justine Zinkin, Executive Director, Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union
  • Elvira de la Cruz, Neighborhood Trust member since 2004

Mississippi Explores IFS Model for Child Accounts

On November 13, 2007, Mississippi State Treasurer Tate Reeves, Aspen IFS Executive Lisa Mensah, and Enterprise Corporation of the Delta (ECD) CEO Bill Bynum hosted a forum in Jackson, Mississippi on “Savings for Life:  Child Accounts in Mississippi.”  The event brought together senior executives from several of the state’s key banks and leaders from the advocacy community to discuss a bold five-year demonstration in Mississippi that would give every child an investment account at birth.  Modeled on the United Kingdom’s Child Trust Fund, it would be the first state-wide demonstration of its kind and would set the stage for a national child account policy. The forum was followed by a press conference with Treasurer Tate Reeves and others.

  • Click here for editorial in Hattiesburg American.
  • Click here for article in The Clarion Ledger.
  • Click here for article in the Mississippi Business Journal.
  • Click here for AP story run in the Sun Herald.


Savings for Life: Politics and Prospects

Aspen IFS convened a roundtable discussion at Aspen headquarters in Washington, DC to discuss IFS’ key recommendations as laid out in its recent report, Savings for Life, and the politics and prospects of advancing savings policy on Capitol Hill.  Participants included Clive Crook of The Atlantic Monthly; David White, Chief Executive of the Children’s Mutual; Bill Bynum, CEO of the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta; Bernie Wilson, Vice President of H&R Block; various Congressional staffers; and other leaders from the financial services industry and nonprofit sector.

The Case for Child Accounts

The Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security joined leaders from the financial services industry and nonprofit sector at a briefing to release their report, The Case for Child Accounts, on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 3:30 pm in the Senate Banking Committee Hearing Room, Dirksen 538.  Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) served as honorary host of the event.

This groundbreaking report emphasizes the critical need to address the US savings challenge and offers up one bold new solution: Child Accounts. The Aspen IFS model for Child Accounts seeks to build a financial asset for every child to fund the transition to adulthood.  The proposal would create a new generation of savers and financially savvy consumers, as well as connect more families to the U.S. savings system while increasing overall savings in America.

Child Accounts represent one element of the Aspen IFS’s “cradle-to-grave” initiative Savings for Life, which was released May 2007 on Capitol Hill. All four proposals in Savings for Life, including Child Accounts, were the product of two years of intense research and collaboration with financial industry leaders and policy experts to develop sensible savings solutions.

Speakers at the event included:

  • Bill Bynum, CEO, Enterprise Corporation of the Delta
  • Mary Laraia, Group Senior Vice President of Community and Sustainable Development, LaSalle Bank
  • Peter Morris, Director of Strategy & Partnerships, National Congress of American Indians
  • John Thompson, Assistant Vice President, Outreach & Business Development, H&R Block
  • John Tippets, President and CEO, American Airlines Federal Credit Union

Savings for Life: The Pathway to Financial Security for All Americans

Aspen IFS joined leaders from the financial services industry and nonprofit sector at a press conference to release our report, "Savings for Life: A Pathway to Financial Security for All Americans," on Thursday, May 3 at 12:00 p.m. at the United States Capitol, Room HC-8. Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Philip English (R-PA), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) participated, and Congressmen Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) and Tom Petri (R-WI) served as honorary hosts of the event. Watch the video.

Savings for Life  features a series of policy recommendations for increasing financial security for all Americans – across income levels, and at every stage of life.  It is the culmination of more than two years of a groundbreaking, bipartisan collaboration with CEOs from the financial services sector and public policy experts to identify market-based strategies for more Americans to save, invest and own.

The report’s proposals include four innovative savings vehicles: Child Accounts (modeled on the United Kingdom’s Child Trust Fund); Home Accounts (to be used for the down payment on a home); America’s IRA (a standardized, simple IRA with a government match for working Americans without access to employer-based retirement plans); and Security “Plus” Annuities (basic life annuities to provide an additional layer of lifetime, guaranteed income as a complement to Social Security).

Featured speakers included:

  • Mark Ernst, Chairman and CEO of H&R Block
  • Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Capital Management and financial consultant on ABC’s Good Morning America
  • Suzanne Nora Johnson, Senior Director and former Vice Chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group
  • Michael Johnston, Executive Vice President, The Capital Group Companies
  • Tom McInerney, Chairman and CEO of ING Insurance Americas
  • Marc Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League
  • John Rother, Director of Policy and Strategy, AARP
  • Eugene Steuerle, Senior Fellow; Urban Institute
  • John Tippets, President and CEO, Americans Airlines Federal Credit Union.

Roundtable Series with Goldman Sachs

H&R Block Hosts Kansas City Roundtable
U.S. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) highlighted the urgency of the declining savings rate at an Aspen IFS roundtable in Kansas City, MO, in February 2007.  “This is not just some little, insignificant issue that we’ve gathered here to talk about,” Cleaver said. “This is a national security issue.”

The roundtable was hosted by Mark Ernst, Chairman and CEO of H&R Block and a member of the Aspen IFS Advisory Board, and the discussion explored various opportunities to encourage savings among households, including the tax refund moment.  Various organizations around the table, including the Family Conservancy, El Centro and the Urban League discussed their efforts to improve savings, investment and ownership among families in the Kansas City metropolitan area. 

Cleaver, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, and Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes were honorary co-hosts of the event, which began with a video introduction from Sebelius, Blunt and Barnes.  The discussion was moderated by Aspen IFS Executive Director Lisa Mensah.

Savings Roundtables Kick Off in San Francisco
In May 2006, the Initiative on Financial Security (IFS) co-hosted the first of six national roundtables on Savings in America with the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco. Roundtables in Jackson, Miss., and Atlanta followed. Fall roundtables will take place in Charlotte, Portland, and Dallas-Fort Worth. The events were moderated by IFS Executive Director Lisa Mensah and Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Suzanne Nora Johnson.

San Francisco City Treasurer Jose Cisneros, pictured at right, was a featured participant at the first roundtable, and spoke about innovative city programs designed to encourage savings and investment among its residents, including the San Francisco Working Families Credit and Bank on San Francisco. Cisneros noted that cities need to make sure residents are taking advantage of programs that already exist to help them save for things like homeownership, retirement or education.

"We have a good number of programs in place in this country," he said. "One is the Federal Earned Income Credit, which reaches out directly to low-income folks and offers them an opportunity at tax time to apply for and potentially receive literally thousands of dollars in extra money, money that they could use for a variety of reasons. Hopefully, many of them might use it to begin [a savings account]."

Other participants at the roundtable included Dick Rosenberg, former Chairman & CEO of Bank of America; Robert Corrigan, President, San Francisco State University; Skip Battle, Executive Chairman of Ask Jeeves and Aspen Trustee; Gene Steuerle, Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and Aspen IFS Advisory Board member; Anne Stuhldreher, Fellow at the New America Foundation; Bernie Wilson, Senior Vice President of H&R Block; and Ben Mangan, President & CEO of EARN, among other prominent business and nonprofit leaders.

Pictured right: Arjun Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner, Telesoft – Aspen Trustee; Walter Shorenstein, Founder, Shorenstein, Co.; Dick Rosenberg, Former Chairman & CEO, Bank of America

Two Governors Fill Out Roundtable in Jackson
At the second event of the series, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, pictured at right, and former Gov. William Winter brought their insights to a June roundtable on Savings in America in Jackson, Miss., at which participants discussed saving  and investing, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"When the storm came through, there were a lot of people who were left with nothing; perhaps their home was their life savings," said Gov. Barbour. "Those who didn’t own a home maybe didn’t have enough insurance to get a new car. I think it’s spotlighting that even in one of the more prosperous areas of our state, savings is very difficult for many people."

Other notable attendees included Walter Isaacson, President & CEO of the Aspen Institute; Claiborne Barksdale, CEO of the Barksdale Reading Institute; Bill Bynum, CEO of Enterprise Corporation of the Delta/Hope Community Credit Union; Robert Jackson, Mississippi State Senator; Tate Reeves, Treasurer, State of Mississippi; Derrick Johnson, President, NAACP State Conference of Branches; and Beverly Hogan, President, Tougaloo College.

Pictured middle right: Haley Barbour, Governor, State of Mississippi; Suzanne Nora Johnson, Vice Chairman, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Lisa Mensah, Executive Director, Initiative on Financial Security, the Aspen Institute

Pictured bottom right: Walter Isaacson, President & CEO, the Aspen Institute; William Bynum, CEO, Enterprise Corporation of the Delta/ Hope Community Credit Union

Atlanta Mayor Voices Support for Children’s Accounts
Implementing new ways to help Americans to start saving early on in life was the focus of Atlanta's roundtable, where Mayor Shirley Franklin, pictured at right, voiced her support for programs similar to the federally-sponsored child saving accounts recently launched in the U.K.

"If there were a way to learn the value of saving at an earlier age, jump-started by a program like those in the U.K., I think we would be able to move our residents a lot quicker and more satisfactorily through the next stages of life – college, technical school, entrepreneurship and ultimately, wealth building and homeownership," said Mayor Franklin.

Ambassador Andrew Young, Co-Chairman, GoodWorks International, LLC, recalled buying savings stamps at school as a child during World War II and purchasing a mutual fund even before his teenage years, and said those early savings allowed him to purchase a car after college. He stressed the importance of early financial education. "Public schools are a very good opportunity to start people being savings conscious," he said.

Other key participants at the roundtable were John Bryant, chairman and CEO of Operation Hope, Thomas McInerney, CEO of ING U.S. Financial Services and Aspen IFS Advisory Board member; and Hattie Dorsey, President & CEO, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership.

Pictured right: Peter Reiling, Executive Vice President, Leadership Programs, The Aspen Institute; Lisa  Mensah, Executive Director, Initiative on Financial Security, the Aspen Institute; Ambassador Andrew Young, Co-Chairman, GoodWorks International, LLC; Suzanne Nora Johnson, Vice Chairman, The Goldman SachsGroup, Inc.

Savings in the Windy City
In January 2006, the Initiative on Financial Security (IFS) traveled to the Institute’s birthplace to co-host a roundtable on savings innovations with Norman R. Bobins, President and CEO of LaSalle Bank and an IFS Advisory Board member. The event featured three members of the Illinois Congressional delegation—Rep. Judy Biggert (R) and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D) (both pictured at right), and Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D).

Chicago City Alderman Ed Burke, State Representative Julie Hamos, and Chicago Chief Financial Officer Dana Levenson were also in attendance (pictured below right with IFS Executive Director Lisa Mensah). Prominent business and nonprofit leaders of Chicago joined them at the table, as did Aspen Institute Trustees Robert Malott and Claire Muñuna, and Matthew and Kay Bucksbaum, Chairman’s Society members of the Society of Fellows. The conversation focused on innovations that can improve the financial security of low- and moderate-income families, including employer involvement in savings, the promotion of financial literacy, and the Child Trust Fund, a new initiative in the United Kingdom that provides a savings and investment account to every newborn.

Charlotte Closes Out the “Savings in America” Roundtable Series

Aspen’s IFS and the Global Market Institute at Goldman Sachs wrapped up their national roundtable tour in Charlotte, North Carolina with an insightful discussion about the role of financial institutions in encouraging savings in Charlotte and throughout America.

In a publicly televised event, panelists from around the Charlotte metropolitan area gathered to explore the underlying causes of the extremely low savings rates in America and to entertain possible solutions for the future. Participants came from various backgrounds, including leaders from the private banking community, the nonprofit sector, and local and national government. Attendees included U.S. Congressman Melvin Watt; Patrick McCrory, Mayor; H. Parks Helms, Chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of City Commissioners; Angeles Ortega-Moore, Executive Director of the Latin American Coalition; Bob Morgan, President of the Charlotte Chamber of Congress; Lynne Ford, Director of Sales and Distribution Strategy for Wachovia’s Retirement Investment Products Group; Gloria Pace King, President of United Way of Central Carolinas; and Jonathan Wilk, Savings and Investing Product Executive for Bank of America,

Panelists discussed a wide array of issues, including the important role of the employer in encouraging savings, especially with the recent decline in traditional pension plans that provided a relatively stable income in retirement. Ed Driggs, WTVI Board Chair, emphasized the “financial and moral responsibility of employers to look after their employees and take an interest in their long-term welfare.” Lynne Ford added that Wachovia has spent years educating plan sponsors about tactics to get their employees to save, such as opt-out strategies in 401(k) plans, which recently became law under the 2006 Pension Protection Act. “There are a lot of new things within 401(k)s that are making it easier for folks to invest,” Ford said.

Everyone agreed that an effort to fix the savings challenge in the United States will take the efforts of private, public and nonprofit sectors alike, be it through changing the tax structure, offering matching programs or loans to higher-risk clients, or revamping government incentives. As Anne Weiss of Charlotte Saves said, all three sectors must be “part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

Other Roundtables

Economists and Politicians Review Tax Policy in America.

A group of policymakers, experts, and business leaders gathered at the Aspen Institute on December 9 to discuss the Tax Reform Panel's recommendations and their implications for savings in America. This Initiative on Financial Security (IFS) breakfast roundtable breakfast roundtable discussion featured former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), and Congressman George Miller (D-CA) as speakers (pictured at right with IFS executive director and moderator Lisa Mensah).

Fred Goldberg, partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, provided an overview of the Panel's recommendations. Eugene Steuerle, senior fellow at the Urban Institute; Maya MacGuineas, director of fiscal policy at the New America Foundation; and Christian Weller, senior economist at the Center for American Progress, analyzed the savings recommendations from a budgetary and tax-policy standpoint. Others at the table included Aspen IFS Advisory Board members Suzanne Nora Johnson, vice chairman of Global Markets at Goldman Sachs; John Tippets, president and CEO of American Airlines Federal Credit Union; and Aspen trustee and Goldman Sachs vice president Roderick Von Lipsey (pictured at right). The roundtable was aired on C-SPAN and will be re-broadcasted periodically.

Helping Low Income Families Retire

With the debate over retirement security heating up, the Initiative on Financial Security (IFS) hosted a bipartisan roundtable on Capitol Hill exploring how Congress can expand retirement savings incentives for low and moderate income households. IFS Executive Director Lisa Mensah led a discussion that brought together Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, as well as Rep. Benjamin Cardin of Maryland and Rep. Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, who sit on the House Ways and Means Committee. Following the roundtable, IFS continued the dialogue by co-hosting a panel discussion with the Retirement Security Project, where Mensah talked about how federal matching programs are the key to encouraging low and moderate income Americans to save for the future.

Kids Accounts: A Platform For Financial Security

 The Initiative on Financial Security brought "Washington to Wall Street" for a unique conversation in early December 2004.  Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) and Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) (both pictured at right) discussed their legislation introducing universal children's accounts with an audience primarily made up of financial services industry professionals.  Proposed in 2004, “KIDS Accounts” would be funded for all children in the U.S. with a government endowment at birth and could be used once the child reaches eighteen to pay for higher education, a down payment on a home or to fund a retirement account.  The conversation ranged from whether such accounts are good policy to the nuts and bolts of account structure to strategies to increase financial literacy.

Personal Saving in America: The Role of Government Incentives

What is the role of government in helping more Americans save more money? The Institute's Initiative on Financial Security put this question to policy and business leaders with four members of Congress on Capitol Hill in March 2004. Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) asked how, if tax credits often drive saving, policy can support workers whose tax liabilities are too low to yield benefits. Representative George Miller (D-CA) questioned basic assumptions - whether current policies push individuals to save or to consume. Representative Rob Portman (R-OH) spoke of "an impending crisis," warning, "We need to do something right now about retirement," while Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) urged that employers need better ways to help their employees save.